PaizoCon Pathfinder Society Review

Monday, Febraury 13, 2012

I have never been to PaizoCon. I have heard many stories over a pint from friends who have been. I have wanted to go the past few years but it just never worked out, whether it was expenses or work related obligations. One of the perks of my job is now I get to go to PaizoCon every year. Of course, Erik has told me the only excuse for missing it is if I was dead and the body couldn’t be recovered. I promise, you don’t need to twist my arm to be there. I am excited to experience my first PaizoCon with many of you. Not only do I get to attend, I get to help plan the convention. I can’t begin to tell you how cool that is. Every week, I’m working on one preparation or another to help make this PaizoCon the best yet. With that in mind, I thought I would share some of what is being planned for Pathfinder Society. I need to share some of this excitement so I don’t explode.

We are scheduling 150 tables of Pathfinder Society scenarios over the three days. The response of volunteers to GM was overwhelming. We filled all 150 tables in 23 hours and we currently have 22 people on the waiting list to step in if someone has to cancel their trip. It looks like I’m not the only one excited about this year’s PaizoCon. We’re scheduling every Season 3 scenario for PaizoCon over multiple tables.

We’ll also be debuting the GM 101 Workshop. Georgia Venture-Officers took the initiative late last year to put together a program to inform prospective GMs of what they might expect while running a Pathfinder Society scenario or sanctioned module. They received excellent feedback from participants, shared it with several other Venture-Officers to run in their regions, and refined the program. They pitched the idea to me to run it at conventions and I thought it was a great idea. This 4- to 5-hour workshop will be broken into two parts.

The first half includes topics such as how to bring a 4- to 5-hour scenario to life, how to make rulings on the fly, how to manage a table of complete strangers, how to organize a game day, and how to adapt to players doing the unexpected. Participants will circulate between stations to learn and practice the skills involved. During the second half, Georgia Venture-Officers will reveal the Deck of Many Situations. They will lead a humorously instructive game that challenges its players to handle tough GMing situations based on real, in-game dilemmas. Participants will have the opportunity to play the parts of both the GM and the troublesome players. Judges will offer feedback for each round, giving everyone the opportunity to learn. Note that we will also be running GM 101 workshops at Gen Con. I prefer that anyone who wants to volunteer to help run them at Gen Con attend one of these workshops at PaizoCon.

Finally, we are returning the Grand Convocation to its rightful place at PaizoCon. There will be tiered mini-quests that take an hour or two to complete. There will be side events where special Chronicles can be earned. And, according to Major Maldris, the Blakros family is planning to make an appearance. It is unclear exactly what they want. Major Maldris seemed visibly upset (who can blame him when the Blakros are involved) when asked about it, as there have been whispers of bargains, deals, marriages and the like that the Blakros family is pursuing.

I hope to see many of you there and to match faces with messageboard names and avatars. I also hope that I can help provide all of you that are attending with your most memorable Pathfinder experience to date. I look forward to seeing you all in July.

Oh, I almost forgot one important note. It has been mentioned for several years that there would be occasional special events for retired, 12th level PCs. The Grand Convocation is the debut of these special, Tier 12+ events.

Eyes of Ten gives retroactive XP. If you have finished the entire arc, you will be level 13 with 2 XPs.

Levels 12 who has not played Eyes of Ten may also play. Essentially, the only restriction to the Grand Convocation is if you are in the middle of the four scenarios. As long as you have not started or have finished, you are good to go.

To add to Mike's response, just beware that the highest tier of encounters for this event will be designed for all characters of 12th level or higher, meaning the CRs are likely to be well above what a 12th-level PC is intended to face, since they also need to challenge PCs that get to 14th, 15th, or even 16th level by that point.

To add to Mike's response, just beware that the highest tier of encounters for this event will be designed for all characters of 12th level or higher, meaning the CRs are likely to be well above what a 12th-level PC is intended to face, since they also need to challenge PCs that get to 14th, 15th, or even 16th level by that point.

We should call it the recycler tour. Recycle all of those retired Pathfinders so we don't have to pay them a pension any longer.

As Mark warned, if you play a 12th level character, it will be a very tough challenge and there is a very strong possibility you will die. Please consider carefully before you enter your 12th level character. However, people have been clamoring for more challenge so this is your first opportunity. Good luck retired Pathfinders.

It will be interesting to see what the difference in PC spread is between PaizoCon 2011 & PaizoCon 2012. Last year all 4 parts of the Eyes of the Ten arc were offered. IIRC four players signed up for Part 1, two players signed up for Part 2, one player signed up for Part 3 and zero players signed up for Part 4. When Part 1 began we discovered that two players didn't even have 12th level PCs, they thought you got a pre-gen for the game. I think it will be really cool if there is a Tier 12 table or tables at PaizoCon. Maybe since it will be an exclusive event (vs Eyes of the Ten) it will garner more high-level players. Or will the theory that most players PFS enjoy mid-level play rather than high-level prove true? We will know on July 7th. I hope Mark doesn't do a bunch of work for nothing!

I never do the work for nothing! Not only do I get paid to do it, but I love it! Also, we're outsourcing a lot of the work for this event, so if no one plays the highest tier, it won't be me who's slaved away creating that content.

Eyes of Ten gives retroactive XP. If you have finished the entire arc, you will be level 13 with 2 XPs.

Levels 12 who has not played Eyes of Ten may also play. Essentially, the only restriction to the Grand Convocation is if you are in the middle of the four scenarios. As long as you have not started or have finished, you are good to go.

The other situation, of course, is a 13th-level PC who has not done Eyes of the Ten but played Ruby Phoenix Tournament when they got to 12th. I'll be in that situation.

Eyes of Ten gives retroactive XP. If you have finished the entire arc, you will be level 13 with 2 XPs.

Levels 12 who has not played Eyes of Ten may also play. Essentially, the only restriction to the Grand Convocation is if you are in the middle of the four scenarios. As long as you have not started or have finished, you are good to go.

The other situation, of course, is a 13th-level PC who has not done Eyes of the Ten but played Ruby Phoenix Tournament when they got to 12th. I'll be in that situation.

And since you are not in the middle of the eyes of ten, you will be able to play with your 13th level PC.

I'm really looking forward to my first PaizoCon, and helping to vonlunteer! Sounds like there is a lot of exciting stuff going on this year with things like the Grand Convocation.

We had a lot of fun, and helped a lot of new GMs get their legs under them with the GM 101 we ran down in Georgia, and we hope to do that same at PaizoCon and GenCon. We had a blast with it last time, and hope to do so again!

I laughed and laughed. The only question that I have is whether that's because there's always bound to be some souless bast**ds at every convention, or because some of y'all had to sell your souls trying to startup Paizo? <impish grin>

Seriously, though ... Erik, you've come a long way since the AOL Greyhawk boards back in '96 (Iquander!). You are to be commended.